Could that mean a second Bugatti model will join the Chiron and its eventual successor?

Among the many high-horsepower reveals at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show was the Bugatti Chiron Sport. Technically speaking, the Sport doesn’t offer any additional ponies over the standard-issue Chiron, but with “standard-issue” in this case still being 1,500 horsepower (1,119 kilowatts), any sort of update still places the hypercar in extremely elite company.

Somewhat buried among the buzz about this lighter (hence faster) Chiron is a nugget of information that Autocar dug up. Work is underway at Bugatti on new models – specifically, Autocar quotes Bugatti’s new boss Stephan Winkelmann as saying “we have a team working on future projects. I will not say more now, but keep an eye on what we are doing in Molsheim – there will be more.”

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What’s interesting here isn’t that Bugatti has something in the works. That’s pretty much a given with any active automaker. The interesting part is that Winkelmann says projects, as in more than one. The modern incarnation of Bugatti as only ever offered a single vehicle at a time. It could be that he simply meant projects in an all-encompassing, referring to all the work being done at the automaker. Or it could well be something more. A companion model to the Chiron perhaps? Something a bit more more mainstream to bring in buyers seeking a daily driver with a Bugatti badge?

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Don't act surprised – of course we have to raise the SUV flag with such talk. It must be noted that Bugatti has offered absolutely no indication that such a creation is even being considered. That doesn’t mean people aren’t thinking about it, however, especially now that Lamborghini and even Ferrari are stepping into the segment. The above renderings are just a flight-of-fancy from designer Aksyonov Nikita over at Behance, but with SUVs and crossovers more popular than ever, such a machine with a Bugatti badge seems almost inevitable.

We know plans for a successor to the Chiron are already underway. We talked last year about a possible four-door model as well as hybrid being on the table. Development is thought to begin next year with the car not appearing until 2024, or possibly 2025. Those same reports also suggested Bugatti would stick to just a single offering, but that was when Winkelmann’s predecessor Wolfgang Durheimer was running the show. Now that a new boss in running the show, all bets are off.

In other words, we should take Winkelmann's advice and keep an eye on the activity at Bugatti headquarters.